


A Friendly Face

by the_problem_with_stardust



Series: A Sense of Belonging [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Fluff, Force-Sensitive Finn, M/M, Physical Therapy, hell yeah, that goddamn jacket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-28 08:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11414376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_problem_with_stardust/pseuds/the_problem_with_stardust
Summary: After taking on Kylo Ren, Finn wakes up to a familiar face.





	A Friendly Face

**Author's Note:**

> General disclaimer: I don’t own anything, but please, please, please don’t post my work anywhere without my permission.

Finn was floating. The bed beneath him felt softer than he remembered and there was a persistent beeping noise he couldn’t place. Then the memory of icy snow and a blood red lightsaber flashed through his mind. The beeping noise sped up, dread starting to build in his gut. What happened after? Did the First Order have him again? Was he dead? Before the panic consumed him completely, a sense of calm washed through him. Rey.

Eyes adjusting to the dim light, Finn squinted around the unfamiliar room. BB-8 was powered down at the side of his bed and soft voices filtered in through the partially open door. He must be with the Resistance. Trying to move turned out to be an impossible feat. There were tubes and wires connecting him to the machine with the annoying beeping sound. What in the galaxy was going on? The feeling of calm was back and this time Finn knew it was Rey. Was this the Force? He tried to push some sort of acknowledgement back. 

When he started paying attention to his surroundings again, Finn realized the room was silent save for the incessant beeping. There were people talking before he felt Rey’s force magic. Maybe he should get out of bed and find whoever it was. Perhaps they could tell him where to get a glass of water. His throat was so dry it hurt to swallow. Finn started to move and immediately felt like his back was torn open again. He couldn’t help a surprised and frustrated noise from escaping.

Rapid footsteps approached as he tried to blink the black spots out of his vision. A familiar voice broke through the fog in his brain and a hand landed on his shoulder. “Whoa, hold still. That mask-wearing lunatic severed your spine.”

“Poe?” Finn’s voice was barely a croak, vocal chords feeling stiff and unused.

“Hey, buddy! It’s good to see you awake.” He sounded relieved. “The doc says you’re gonna be fine. A few more weeks and you should be walking like normal.”

“Where’s Rey?” He knew that he felt her before, but it might have only been his imagination mixed with the drugs that were making his head feel strange.

Poe grinned, as if he was happy Finn’s memory was intact. “She went to find Luke Skywalker.”

“What?” Poe’s hand still resting on his shoulder was the only thing that kept him from sitting up. “How? The map wasn’t complete.”

“Artoo had the rest.”

Disappointment crushed his insides. Couldn’t she have waited? Poe must have noticed because he squeezed Finn’s shoulder and said, “She stayed as long as she could. It took an order from the General to make her leave your side.”

“When did she go?”

Poe looked thoughtful, counting. “Nine days ago.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “How long have I been out?”

“Ten days. Doctor Kalonia said you should be coming out of the coma soon, we just didn’t expect it to be this soon.” The exuberance in Poe’s tone was contradicted by the dark circles under his eyes.

“Why didn’t they terminate me?” The First Order would have let him die. It wasn’t worth wasting medical treatment and physical therapy on the off chance a low ranking soldier might be useful again.

Poe sighed and slumped into the chair next to the bed. “You aren’t with them anymore. The Resistance doesn’t terminate people. We fight to keep them alive.”

Something about that statement didn’t sit right. Finn’s brain was still moving like a bantha through the swamps of Dagobah, but he seemed to remember Poe held captive on a ship with no possibility of rescue. Wasn’t that the same thing?

“Dameron, leave the poor kid alone, he’s at the end of his pain meds.” A woman in a white coat entered the room, fixing Poe with a glare. “And for kriff’s sake go shower. You’ve been here for three days straight.”

Poe had the decency to look contrite as he unfolded himself from the chair. “Yes ma’am.” He hesitated in the doorway. “We’ll be back soon, Finn.”

BB-8 beeped something that sounded like an affirmation and rolled after their master.

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes as the door closed.  “Pilots. The whole bunch of them are funny in the head.”

\----

True to their word, Poe and BB-8 returned shortly after Doctor Kalonia left. Poe’s hair was damp and he was wearing new clothes, so he must have taken the doctor’s advice and showered.

Flashing Finn a bright grin, Poe settled into one of the nearby chairs. “Did we miss anything?”

“Nothing too exciting.” Silence fell between them. “So Rey went to go find Luke Skywalker.”

“Yeah! Apparently he’s on some uninhabited planet. Rey’s going to convince him to join the Resistance. Or maybe learn how to be a Jedi.”

Finn didn’t know a lot about Jedi, but Poe sounded star struck. Which was fine. Rey was pretty awesome.

They were interrupted by a knock at the doorframe. “Guess who missed dinner again.”

It was one of Poe’s pilot friends who Finn remembered vaguely from before Starkiller. She had her hands full balancing a tray with two loaded plates and two very full glasses.

Poe got up to rescue the drinks. “Finn, this is the other best pilot in the galaxy, Jessika Pava.”

She rolled her eyes and set the tray on his bedside table. “Hey Finn. Call me Jess.”

“Nice to meet you, Jess.”

The pilot raised an eyebrow. “Damn, you’re polite.” She turned to Poe. “The General wants you to know that there are some recruits who could use your enthusiasm.”

Poe sighed. “Did she also want me to know what time I should be there?”

“Tomorrow, 0800.” Jess collapsed into a chair, grabbing one of the plates and accepting a glass from Poe.

“Got it.”

Jess took a bread roll off the tray and handed it to Finn. “If the doctor asks, you didn’t get this from me.”

A little while later, their dinner party was crashed by another pilot.

“Snap! Did you bring us dessert?” Jess looked hopeful.

The new guy snorted. “No, but I brought you cards.”

“Awesome. Let’s teach the newbie a game.”

So they spread a deck of cards across the white cover of Finn’s hospital bed and taught him how to play some game whose name he couldn’t remember with rules none of them could agree on. It was surreal. Finn almost felt out of place amongst the pilots’ laughter and good-natured arguments, but they made an effort to include him until he was laughing right along with them.

It took a visit from Doctor Kalonia – reminding the pilots that patients needed sleep – to get Jess and Snap to leave. Finn wanted to disagree; he’d been asleep for ten days. But they picked up the cards that had somehow ended up all over the room and bid him goodnight. Poe and BB-8 lingered.

“If you want to try standing up soon, you can. Your back has had over a week to heal.”

Almost before the words were out of her mouth, Finn was pushing himself out of bed. The doctor shook her head with a sigh. Maybe ‘soon’ didn’t mean ‘right now.’ It hurt, but not as much as he expected.

“Hey. Take it easy.” Poe helped him sit back on the bed. “Healing takes time.”

\----

A week later, Doctor Kalonia had him walking around the base and doing exercises to strengthen his legs and core. Finn hated every second of feeling weak and helpless.

The one bright spot in his day was Poe, who always seemed to be around to keep him company on his walks, BB-8 rolling along behind them. By the second week, Finn felt like he knew every story from when Poe was growing up on Yavin 4. It made him homesick for a family he couldn’t remember.

Instead of walking him to the medbay like he usually did at the end of their walks, Poe paused in the corridor. “Doctor Kalonia said you could come eat with us in the caf tonight, if you wanted.”

“Okay, sure.”

“It’s only cafeteria food, but it’ll be better than what they’ve been feeding you.”

Finn wasn’t really sure what was wrong with what they ate in the medbay, but he was happy to go along with Poe this time. He could hear the chatter coming from the caf long before he could smell it. But the hum of voices went silent when the two of them walked in, people turning to gape. The scrutiny made Finn’s palms sweat.

Gently nudging his shoulder, Poe murmured, “looks like you’re a ‘Big Deal’ now.”

Finn sputtered, forgetting everyone watching them. Dropping his betrayed gaze to BB-8, he hissed, “that was between us. Not cool.”

Poe laughed. “Don’t worry, Bee kept your secret.”

That only left Rey. Finn frowned, sending his jokingly displeased thoughts her way as he picked up his tray and followed Poe to where Jess and Snap were saving them seats. He had been trying to keep her in the loop via Force messages since he woke up. It was impossible to tell whether or not she received them, but he kept it up just in case.

Jess dragged his attention away from his plate, which was so much better than anything he’d eaten so far. “Hey, I hear they were talking about moving you out of the medbay.”

“Yeah. Should be sometime this week.” Finn was ready to be somewhere else. The monotony of the medbay was making him go stir-crazy.

“I was never assigned a roommate, so if you need a place to stay…” Poe trailed off.

Which made sense since he was taken prisoner by the First Order and probably presumed dead.

Finn didn’t need to think it over. “Yeah, I’ll definitely take you up on that.”

\----

Finn jerked awake to the sound of hushed voices. Some days it took a minute to remember where he was. By the time he felt oriented enough to sit up and look over at his roommate, Poe was already gathering his things in the dark.

“Poe?”

“Sorry to wake you.”

“Did you get called in?”

“Yeah.” There was a muffled thump. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I get it.” Finn managed a smile, though Poe probably couldn’t see it in the darkness of their room. “The resistance needs their best pilot.”

Poe snorted at that. “I just didn’t want to leave so soon after you woke up.”

It was Finn’s turn to huff a quiet laugh. “It’s been almost a month. I’ll still be here when you get back.”

“Take care of yourself.” Poe’s voice was abnormally serious.

Finn swung down from his perch on the bunk (thank the gods for physical therapy) and pulled Poe into a tight hug. “Be careful.”

After a moment, Poe extricated himself and squeezed Finn’s shoulder. “I’ll see you soon.”

Finn waited until he could no longer hear Poe’s footsteps echoing down the hall and flicked on the lights. A familiar jacket was flung over the back of his chair, a note resting on the seat.

 

_I called in some favors with the medics – they called it suture practice._

 

Upon closer inspection, the charred panels had been replaced and the jacket cleaned. It was probably in better condition than when Finn acquired it in the first place.

He checked the time; it was already 0500. There was no point going back to sleep when he had to be awake for physio in an hour. Finn shrugged on the jacket and headed toward the mess.

“Good morning, Finn.”

Finn snapped to attention. He was always a little shocked when General Organa greeted her underlings like actual people. “General.”

“At ease.” Finn relaxed. She looked him over, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Dameron left this morning.”

It wasn’t a question, but Finn nodded anyway.

“Let me know if there is anything you need.”

Finn was on the brink of declining when he remembered. “Actually,” he fidgeted with the cuff of his sleeve. “Are there any extra data pads?”

“I’ll have a look.”

“Thank you, General.”

The mess was quiet this early, but Finn wasn’t surprised when Jess plopped down into the seat next to him and dropped a data pad in his lap. “From the general.” She looked him up and down, grinning. “Nice jacket.”

Finn just nudged her with his shoulder and started scrolling through the wide ranging content on his new datapad. There were documents about trade and books about which animals were native to which planets. The second physio was over, Finn was going to read everything. 

\----

A quiet tap brought Finn back to his room. Jess was standing in the doorway, probably there to drag him away to eat. It had been over a month and a half since anyone heard from Rey and going on three weeks since Poe left. Finn tried not to think about either of them.

“What did you learn today?” The bunk heaved as Jess rolled onto the bed next to him.

Finn powered down the datapad and set it to charge during dinner. “I was reading about the Mandalorian Sector.” During the past few weeks, Finn had learned about the Clone Wars, the fall of the Republic, and a lot about the different cultures of the galaxy.

Jess made a noncommittal noise and stayed sprawled against his legs. “How’s the binary coming?”

“I should be able to have a conversation with BB-8 when they come back.” _When_. Not _if_. An important distinction.

“That’s awesome.” Jess’s words came out slurred.

Finn laughed and pulled his legs free. “Come on. Let’s go eat before you fall asleep.”

After some grumbling, Jess followed him out of the room and to the mess. The tables were already crowded, the cheerful drone of voices so different from the heavy silence of the First Order.

They slid into their regular seats, automatically leaving spaces where Poe and Snap usually sat. It made their absence impossible to ignore. Finn sighed. Jess could easily be assigned a mission and he’d be all alone.

“Have you heard anything yet?”

“Waiting is awful.” She stabbed at her food. “I mean, it’s only a matter of time before I get sent out again. But until then I’m just sitting around.”

That was a sentiment Finn could relate to. Even though he kept busy, it was hard to not feel useless. His melancholy thoughts were interrupted by a familiar presence brushing against his mind. Finn froze, back ramrod straight, dropping his knife in shock.

“Finn, are you ok?” Jess had concern written all over her face.

“Rey. Rey is coming back.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr!](https://theproblemwithstardust.tumblr.com)


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